Resident Evil: The Darkness Within
by Strider4
Summary: Follow Racoon City police officer Jim Dowhearty and S.T.A.R.S member Jill Valentine through the trenches of the city, while Chris and Barry probe the depths of Umbrella's sinister plot. R/R please!
1. Prologue to madness

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Resident Evil, or any of the names, places or things affiliated with it. If you've played the Resident Evil series you'll know which characters are original and which are not. If you haven't, why are you even reading these fics?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Resident Evil: The Darkness Within  
  
  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
(One month before the events of Resident Evil 2)  
  
August 10th, 1998  
  
Officer Jim Dowherty looked out one of the large windows at the front of Racoon City Police Department. A quiet hush had fallen over the city streets. A hush not felt inside the Police Department. Inside, Police Officers and Special Response team members rushed back and forth. Most headed for the armoury or to the garage to head out onto the battlefield. Not Jim though, his place was here, defending the station like a modern day Alamo. He knew it was quite possible that he would never again set foot outside the station. Never see his home again. He was sure that by now his dog at home had been turned into one of those many infected mutts roaming the city streets for a next meal of warm living flesh. He had truly landed in hell, along with the other defenders of the city. Survivors would come in every now and then, though most would be given a gun and some gear and shipped back out with the search teams or blockade lines to fight. Many never came back. Jim turned from the window upon hearing his name; his Assault Shotgun clutched tightly in his hands.  
  
"Jim? Chris wanted to talk to you." Jim nodded slowly. It was Dave who brought him out of his trance. He looked into the eyes of his comrade, who equally looked like hell. He was unshaven, and his moustache, usually well groomed, was scruffy and unkempt.  
  
"I'll take over until you get back from Redfield's office." Dave uttered.  
  
"Sure, thanks Dave." Jim sighed, running a hand through his brown hair, and handing over his loaded shotgun to his friend with the other. Jim made his way through the main hall, into the waiting room, and finally into the next hall to the stairwell. Around him, officers and fighting survivors alike stood at the windows, holding MP5's and assault shotguns. Jim walked up the stairs slowly, enjoying his brief reprieve from guard duty. His brain, however, sent a thought to him that made him tense up immediately. Chris only called people to his office for one reason, to tell them they're on blockade duty. This was the day Jim had hoped would never come, and he hadn't even realise it when it came time.  
  
"Fuck!" Jim shouted as he reached the top of the stairs. He walked into the S.T.A.R.S office, and inside found the three surviving members of the horror at the Umbrella Mansion lab. They were all heroes, and had informed the police force of the goings on in the mountain lab when they got back that morning. Brad Vickers, the Alpha team helicopter pilot, confirmed the monstrous experiments with photos taken from his helicopter of a huge beast with a large clawed hand on the laboratory helicopter-landing site.  
  
"Hi Officer Dowherty. Come on in." Chris said upon seeing Jim standing there. Jim nodded and gave a small wave. Barry and Jill nodded to him as he approached their small gathering at Chris' desk.  
  
"The reason I called you up here." Chris began. Jim tensed up upon hearing Chris' voice. He was being put on Blockade duty. The most horrid duty to be assigned to. Most of Jim's friends, who went on Blockade, never came back.  
  
"Was to inform you of mine and Barry's leaving." Chris finished. Jim's eyebrows shot up in surprise as his blue eyes widened. He was relieved, but also confused.  
  
"Excuse me?" Jim asked again. Chris got up from his swivel chair and walked up to Jim.  
  
"Barry and I have to attend to a new.um, disturbance, in Europe. Jill has decided to stay behind and help defend the city. We hope to return in short order, but we don't know. I need you to watch Jill's back. She wanted a bodyguard, so I decided to give her the man next in line to be recruited for S.T.A.R.S." Chris explained. Jim let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't on blockade. A thousand pounds came off his shoulders at that moment. He looked over to Jill, who smiled and nodded to him.  
  
"Look forward to working with you, Jim." She said, half-heartedly. She looked like hell too. No one looked like anything better anymore. Jim turned back to Chris.  
  
"What's happening in Europe?" Jim suddenly realised the rest of what Chris had said. At first he had only heard the fact he was not assigned to fight on the front lines. Chris was about to respond, when Barry closed up his magnum and spun the chamber, and butted in.  
  
"Our old friends of the Umbrella Corporation seem to be up to something there. From the data we gathered in the mansion, along with some new evidence that's surfaced since then, they seem have another headquarters there, somewhere in France." He holstered his magnum, and sat down at his desk, putting his feet up. Jim took in this new info.  
  
"Yeah, so we're going to be out in Europe, and we want you to stay here and help out Jill. Guard her; assist her, whatever she may need. We're leaving tomorrow morning. Brad is going to fly us out of the city, and we'll take a military jeep to the nearest airport. As you know, the military is keeping the infestation from spreading out of Racoon city, but won't lift out anyone until they figure out a way to make sure EVERYONE is clean. But they only had to test Barry and me for this one, so they're allowing us to leave." Chris explained further. Jim took a moment to process all the new information, then smiled at Chris or the closest thing to a smile he could muster.  
  
"Don't worry about me or Jill, Chris. I can handle it." Jim said confidently. Chris put his hand on Jim's shoulder, and handed him a handgun wrapped in a black cloth.  
  
"You may need this, Jim." Chris said. Jim looked down at the covered weapon and removed its coverings. Beneath the folded covering, was a large sliver beauty. A Desert Eagle .50 stared Jim back in the face. Jim stared back in awe and surprise.  
  
"It should come in handy, you'll find extra clips in the armoury. This was the only one, I made sure to get to it before anyone else to give to you, that thing could take a zombie's head off no problem." Chris said. Jim just stared; this was a beautiful gun. He put his hand around the smooth black grip.  
  
"Yeah, that's a beauty alright. Almost as good as mine." Barry said with a smile. Jill stood up and began to leave the room.  
  
"Where you headed?" Chris asked. Kill stopped and flipped her hair.  
  
"Well, Gentlemen, not that I don't feel like comparing the size of my gun with you guys, but I'm going to go check the roof team. I caught them slacking off yesterday, want to make sure it doesn't happen again." She replied, heading out the door.  
  
"Better catch up with her bodyguard. No time like the present." Barry said with a smile. Jim nodded and started for the door.  
  
"Hey Jim." Chris said, stopping Jim. "Be careful, alright?" He said. Jim turned and gave Chris thumbs up, before heading out to catch up with Jill.  
  
  
  
To be continued.  
  
  
  
Well, there's the prologue. I don't know when the first chapter will be up, but it will take place at the same time as the events in Resident Evil 2. Hope you enjoyed it up to this point; tell me what you think! R&R in other words!  
  
-Strider 


	2. It begins

Chapter 1  
  
  
  
Versailles Island, somewhere off the coast of France  
  
2300 hrs, September 25th, 1998  
  
"Commander Redfield, we'll be arriving at the island soon, E.T.A, ten minutes!" The helicopter pilot shouted in his thick French accent. The chopper blades and engine noise meant everybody had to talk via radio, and even then, it was difficult to hear.  
  
"Right, I want a gear check everybody! We don't want to be caught with our pants down once we get there! Jacques! Drop us off on the southern beach, we'll work our way to the Umbrella compound through the forest undetected!" Chris shouted. Everybody immediately began loading their weapons. It had taken Barry and Chris several months to do it, but they had finally tracked Umbrella's new European Headquarters the Versailles Island. They found it when they made contact with a small group of French saboteurs intent with destroying Umbrella. They all had their reasons. The group called itself "Hard Rain" symbolising it's hatred for Umbrella. 'A bit radical,' Chris thought 'but well trained in combat, like S.T.A.R.S. was'  
  
Chris looked over to Barry who loaded up his magnum, and put several speed loaders into his vest and side packs. He nodded to Chris, who gave him thumbs up, then began sorting his own weapons. Chris still had his old 9MM that he used in the Mansion lab, and placed it in its holster, taking three extra clips for it. He then reached into the duffel bag at his feet and grabbed an Assault shotgun, loading it with ten shells, and putting an extra twenty in his side pack. He finally took his old Air Force knife and inserted it into his shoulder sheath. He and Barry were dressed in their old S.T.A.R.S uniforms for this mission, while the Hard Rain group was dressed in a more SWAT team look, all black uniforms littered with pockets and equipment, with night vision goggles. The team consisted of Barry and Chris as outside consultants in fighting the mutations that surely stalked the island and four other Hard Rain members, excluding Jacques Chirac, the team pilot, who was a hell of a lot braver then Brad Vickers ever was. The four members accompanying Chris and Barry were Hard Rain Captain, Jean Vertault, demolitions expert Lean Trembley, and the two grunts of the group, Xavier Thibault, and Claude Dumont. All three were armed with MP5's and 9MM pistols as sidearm.  
  
"Excuses moi, Chris, but are we right in expecting any creatures other then Umbrella guards on the island?" Jean asked in broken English. Chris looked over. His goggles were up on top of his black hair, leaving his blue eyes exposed. Chris nodded quickly and shouted his reply.  
  
"We're passing through the forest! Chances are, that's where Umbrella's released any of its first experiments done here in France, Jean!" Jean didn't seem at all pleased by this, and sat back and nodded slowly to Chris. Chris forced a smile, as if to re-assure him everything would be all right. Lean finished loading up her sub-machine rifle, and put a black ski mask on, covering the last of her pale skin and blonde hair. Her cold green eyes remained exposed for the time being. She had several C4 explosive charges in her many side packs and pockets, ready to destroy the lab's most critical points. Xavier and Claude waited silently, black ski masks covering their faces, as the final five minutes to arrival ticked down slowly. Chris joined Jacques up front, sitting in the passenger chair.  
  
"Chris, mon ami, are you sure that you six can take this one by yourselves?" Jacques asked. Chris looked over, seeing only Jacques exposed mouth and stubble chin, the rest being covered by his helmet and visor. Chris smiled weakly.  
  
"Don't worry about us Jacques, we're capable. As you know, Barry and I here survived that Mansion lab incident back in June. And you guys look very capable." Chris said more enthusiastically then he felt.  
  
"Ah oui, ces vrai, I wish you good luck Chris. Bring back my team safely." Jacques said with a smile as he killed the lights and brought the helicopter down on the island's southern beach. The Hard Rain group, or "Pluie Dur", as they were known in French, all activated their night vision goggles. Chris and Barry jumped out of the chopper behind the team, weapons at the ready. At this moment, Chris thought of only one thing. "Jill.I hope you're alright. You and Jim." Chris muttered under his breath as he and the team moved into the island forests. Little did he know, things were far from all right in Racoon City. In fact, the situation had gone straight down to hell.  
  
  
  
"Jill! Behind you!" Jim shouted. He let his Desert Eagle do the talking from there as it shattered a zombie's head in a blast of brain, blood and bone. Jill nodded to him and the two ran down the street to their safe house. In the month since Chris and Barry had left them to defend the town with the other survivors, things had gone really bad in Racoon City. Jim suspected that at least eighty percent of the city was under control by Umbrella's mutations. He, Jill and several of the other survivors had taken shelter in a nearby residential area, hiding in some of the houses. Jill and Jim had been going on nightly search operations, looking for more survivors. During the day it was too easy to be spotted by the creatures roaming the streets, but they could move at night safely enough. They had developed a special bond during these missions, but of the non-romantic variety. They trusted each other with their lives, Jim watched her back, and she watched his. Jim and Jill, coming back from another unsuccessful search, headed into "their" house. It was eerily dark inside, and Jim flipped on a dim lamp, and fell back into the dusty leather recliner in the living room.  
  
"Getting comfortable Jim?" Jill asked as she locked the door tightly. Jim released his empty clip from its place, and slammed a new one home.  
  
"Nothing better after a hard days work. How's our food supply?" Jim asked, out of breath. He was clad in SWAT gear, one of the few things he'd managed to retrieve from the Police Department armoury before they lost their foothold there. He remembered that day clearly. The roof team fired round after round, but these new creatures had joined in on the fun, 'lickers' everyone had called them. They looked slightly human, but inside out, with long venomous tongues and claws, hence the name. Eventually, the zombies and lickers, among other creatures, broke through the front door. Jim and Jill had rushed downstairs in time to see them crash through. Everyone retreated, of course, into one of the office rooms, where many of us were cornered. Jill led us through one of the back doors, but three men were left behind in there. We lost more and more as we made our way to the dog kennel area, and into the armoury. Jim grabbed a SWAT uniform for it's added stealth and armour, and every last one of the Desert Eagle clips, stuffing them into a small duffel bag, along with Jill's 9MM clips. Jill grabbed a second, larger bag filled with shotgun rounds, and the Assault Shotgun to go with it. They had to leave the shotgun and Grenade Launcher they had in the S.T.A.R.S office behind, along with many other things of value. From there, they and the other survivors piled into SWAT team vans. Jill and Jim rode up front in the first one with a load of survivors in the back, while Dave and another officer took the one behind them. While the first van took off, the second one never made it, as a licker busted into the cab along side Dave, killing him and the passenger. Jim didn't want to think of the massacre that was in that second truck, still parked in front of the exit to the garage.  
  
"Hey Jim? You still with me?" Jill brought Jim out of his trance. He nodded slowly as Jill handed him some energy bars and a can of coke. All they had were non-perishable food items, since those were the only things still good inside the supermarkets around the area. Food runs were a particularly dangerous business to be in. The commercial areas were often the most infested with zombies, infested dogs, among other creatures. Only the strongest fighters of the survivors went on food runs.  
  
"Jill, what the hell are we gonna do? It seems we've housed every survivor there is in this area, now we need to get them out of the city, don't we? Our ammo won't last forever." Jim said as he munched unhappily at his energy bar.  
  
"I know Jim, I know. If only Brad hadn't taken off at the first sign of danger, as usual. If only he wasn't such a chicken shit!" Jill started angrily, clutching her shotgun. Jim calmed her with his hand. He knew they had to start another conversation, however, because if he didn't they would be able to hear the sounds coming from outside.  
  
"How is our ammo anyway?" Jim asked, wanting to keep up the noise. For the first week or so, they'd been able to pick up TV channels from surrounding areas, but for one reason or another both the TV and Radio could no longer pick anything up, hence forcing them to keep each other from going insane. Jill looked through both duffel bags for a while then layed out the ammunition on the floor.  
  
"Well, as you know I've been conserving my shotgun rounds, only using them against Lickers and the bigger boys, but since we mostly run into zombies, I'm down to my last 30 or so clips for my pistol. We still got a good 63 clips for your Desert Eagle. I still have a lot of shells for my shotgun, so we're still in decent, if not good, shape." She explained.  
  
"We should use this ammo, and try to find a working vehicle with enough fuel to get us out of the city Jill. So far all the cars we've found have either been trashed, or out of gas! And we used all the fuel in the SWAT van just finding a good place to hide out." Jim said, complaining for the sake of keeping the silence broken. That night, Jim and Jill kept the silence broken, by formulating a plan to escape from the city.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED.  
  
  
  
A/N: Ok, there's the thrilling first chapter! R & R please! Tell me what YOU, the reader, think! Flame if you like for getting some details wrong because I KNOW I have, or offer constructive criticism (or tell me how totally awesome sweet this fic is, that's a nice option too!(). Thanks. 


	3. First encounter

Chapter 2  
  
  
  
  
  
Versailles Island  
  
2330 hrs  
  
The forest trees and bushes closed in tight around the assault team, their weapons clutched in tight to their sides as they stalked through the thick underbrush to the Island's northern edge. In the darkness, Chris Redfield adjusted his night-vision goggles, on load from the Hard Rain group, tightening it on his head. The dark silence was only momentarily broken, by strange far away sounds in the forest, and the occasional teams check in via radio. They were split into teams of two, and were to meet up at the Umbrella compound's southern walls. But first they had to survive the forest.  
  
"Chris? Do you see anything yet?" Lean asked, her voice trembling slightly. Chris took a quick scan of the area around him, seeing nothing but tall European oaks, and bushes. Chris turned to Lean, his feet crunching the dry leaves at his feet.  
  
"No, the area seems clear. Come on, we'd better not stop moving." Chris whispered back to her. Lean nodded slowly, her face covered by her ski mask and goggles. She couldn't help but feel as though they were being watched. Stalked, almost, by some unseen foe. Meanwhile, about a mile east of their position, Barry and Jean were feeling the same.  
  
"Barry? I cannot help but feel as though we are being followed. Like I am hearing footsteps behind us." Jean said, as he carefully made his way through the thick bushes. Barry nodded slowly in agreement, clutching the grip on his Magnum tightly.  
  
"You're right Jean. We're being hunted." Barry said quietly. Jean listened carefully to the air around them, hearing naught but the wind, flowing eerily through the tree branches above.  
  
"What is it that hunts us, mon ami?" Jean asked, flipping the safety off on his MP5 sub-machine gun. Barry listened carefully; listening for noises his ear had become attuned to when he was fighting in the mansion.  
  
"I can hear them now. They chirp, sort of like birds. Can you hear that? They're waiting for us to let our guard down." Barry whispered, turning towards the faint, almost inaudible, chirping noises.  
  
"Yes. I can hear them now too. What are they? They sound distorted, like reptile croaks crossed with robins call." Jean said. Barry squinted through his night-vision goggles, looking to make the hunter the hunted.  
  
"They have a name that fits them best. They're called Hunters, one of Umbrella's first intelligent mutations. They are born to hunt, and live to kill, but by the sounds of the chirping, there's only one, maybe two." Barry said, pointing his magnum at the cluster of bushes behind them, Jean following his example quickly. The chirping soon became louder the more the two men waited. It wasn't long after the bush the two were looking at began to rustle, and a large reptilian creature jumped forth. Jean froze in horror at the sight of this half alligator, half ape-like creature. Not Barry though. Two loud shots rang out in the forest darkness, one hitting the Hunter in the chest, stopping it in its tracks, and the second passing through it's skull, silencing it forever.  
  
"Come on Jean! It won't be long, best we just leave it for the other things to feast!" Barry shouted, bringing Jean out of his trance. They ran from the small clearing where the Hunter fell, and soon, they heard chirping all around the area, followed by the far-off sounds of messy feasting. Barry and Jean ran north until they figured it safe, and stopped for a breather. Barry took a swig of water from his canteen, and turned on his radio.  
  
"This is Burton, Jean and I just had an encounter with a Hunter. Chris, we're on the right island, that's for sure." Barry said into the radio. He waited a few seconds for the reply.  
  
"Barry, a Hunter? Are you guys all right?" Chris asked him, Barry took a quick look around, then brought the radio back to his mouth.  
  
"Yeah, Jean is a little shaken up by it, but he'll be ok. Guess he didn't expect something like that. I took it down, and some other Umbrella critters in the vicinity decided to have a snack, compliments of me and my little friend here." Barry said, chuckling softly.  
  
"Ok, good Barry, so long as you guys are ok. We'll keep our eyes open for anything on our end. Claude and Xavier, how are things on your side?" Chris asked. A few seconds later the reply came.  
  
"Tous va bien, Chris. On te vaira a la laboratoire." The reply came. Chris moaned in frustration. 'These guys don't know English?' Chris thought.  
  
"Je m'excuse Chris. They understand English, but cannot speak it. They say that everything is fine and they will see us at the laboratory." Jean soon translated. Chris sighed and took a sip of water from his canteen.  
  
"Ok, thanks Jean. It'd probably just be easier if you checked in with them then. This is Redfield, out." Chris let the button off his radio and re-holstered it. He nodded to Lean, and picked up his shotgun, the two heading back off into the dark forest. In the brief reprieve after the Hunter attack, Chris' thoughts once again shifted to his friends back in Racoon City, and the plight they faced there.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED.  
  
A/N: YAY! I got a review! A good one! The next chapter will, as you may have expected, focus on Jill and Jim in the city again. Peace out! 


	4. Escape!

Chapter 3  
  
  
  
  
  
"Run Jill Run!" Jim shouted to his partner as they scurried down the street. It was now 2:00AM, and Jill and Jim had decided it was time to escape. They searched the streets for a working car, starting at a nearby parking garage. The plan was to find a vehicle large enough to fit all the survivors into then ride out of the city. All the survivors wasn't much, it was about 12 people. A couple of mini-vans would do the trick. But now two hungry lickers who had decided the parking garage would make a nice residence pursued Jim and Jill. Jim could see them in the corner of his eye, sticking to the walls with their unbelievably sharp claws. He quickly turned and fired three shots from his Desert Eagle, but only one bullet found a home inside one of the lickers shoulders. It screeched in pain, but did not let up. Jim and Jill ran up one of the garages many car ramps to the next level, where there had been a collision. The two cars blocked the way to the next part of the garage. Now climbing out of the cars were the former drivers of the cars, who were now turned into zombies by Umbrella's mad experiments. They crawled out of their shattered car windows upon sight and smell of the two police officers.  
  
"Shit! I've had enough of this!" Jill shouted. Jim saw her raise her shotgun to her shoulder and turned to wait for another appearance by the lovely lickers that pursued them. Jill blasted shells at the walking dead drivers and their two passengers. Just as the last zombie's head exploded in a show of gore, the lickers bounded up the ramp. Jim fired five shots into one of their heads. The licker finally dropped dead, but the other was nearly upon Jim. Suddenly, a loud blast rang through the air just as the licker jumped at Jim. He looked up to see the licker on it's back six feet away, and Jill beside him, he shotgun smoking.  
  
"Thanks Jill." Jim said, unloading his empty clip and slamming a new one home. Jill nodded to him.  
  
"No problem, now let's find some transportation out of this hell hole." Jim agreed and the two climbed over the two ruined cars in the centre of the garage passageway. On the other side they found exactly what they were looking for, two mini-vans. Jim jumped into the black one, and found the spare keys up in the sunblind, while Jill went to the red one and hot-wired it. Both started up nicely, though the red one only had about half a tank of gas.  
  
"It should be enough to get out of the city." Jill said, re-assuring Jim. Before they could leave, however, they had to clear out the two cars blocking the passage out.  
  
"Now what do we do?" Jim asked as he pulled up along side Jill's van. Jill then noticed a large pick-up truck on the opposite side of the garage. She smiled and exited her van going to the truck, happy to find the keys still in the ignition. She started it up, and backed out, facing the two crashed cars.  
  
"Jim! Get out of the way!" Jill shouted. Jim quickly backed up his van, and let Jill have her space. She got out, and took a nearby chipped off block of concrete from the guard-rail, placing it on the gas pedal. The truck tires spun wildly, as if on a leash. Jill then reached inside, and took it off neutral, allowing the truck to blast towards the collision. Being much larger then the two cashed cars, it smashed right on through it, and into the wall ahead, getting everything out of the way. Jill turned and winked at Jim, who just rolled his eyes at her. She got into her van, and they rode down the ramps. They smashed through the black and yellow striped safety gate and onto the infested streets of Racoon City, heading back to the residential street where they had hidden the other survivors. They arrived on the street, which was quiet and empty for the moment, and went to each house the survivors were lodged in. There were at least two per house. Jim led six of them into his black van, while Jill put the other six in her red one.  
  
"Ok, that's all of them! Let's go, the military should still be guarding the outskirts of the city!" Jim shouted over to Jill. She loaded one more man in, and gave Jim thumbs up before getting into the driver's seat. Jim got in as well, and the two sped off towards the nearest city exit. It looked like their ordeal was over, but then, Jill caught sight of something that made her gasp. It was Brad's S.T.A.R.S chopper; she could recognise it for it was flying low. It was headed in the direction of the RPD!  
  
TO BE CONTINUED.  
  
A/N: I suppose I'll just tell you guys that Jill will return to the RPD after she and Jim escape, because she has to go do her stuff from RE3, but the fic will still follow Jim, as well as Chris, Barry and the Hard Rain group. Happy reading! 


End file.
